Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/182544 
Year of Publication: 
2005
Series/Report no.: 
GIGA Working Papers No. 1
Publisher: 
German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Hamburg
Abstract: 
Natural resources in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from a bad reputation. Oil and diamonds, particularly, have been blamed for a number of Africa's illnesses such as poverty, corruption, dictatorship and war. This paper outlines the different areas and transmission channels of how this so-called "resource curse" is said to materialize. By assessing empirical evidence on sub-Saharan Africa it concludes that the resource curse theory fails to sufficiently explain why and how several countries have not or only partly been affected by the "curse". Theoretically, the paper argues that whether or not natural resources are detrimental to a country's socio-economic and political development depends on a number of contextual variables, divided into country-specific conditions and resource-specific conditions (type, degree/level of abundance and dependence, resource revenue management, involved companies etc.). Methodologically, a future research agenda needs to examine the complex interplay of these contextual variables by adding sophisticated comparative research designs, especially "small and medium N" comparisons, to the tool box which has been widely confined to the juxtaposition of "large N" and country case studies.
Subjects: 
Sub-Saharan Africa
Natural Resources
Political Economy
Institutions
Violent Conflict
Socio-Economic Development
Democracy
JEL: 
B25
N5
N57
O13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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